


Draecember 2017 Day Five: New Place

by Zillidan



Series: Draecember 2017 [5]
Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Arathi Highlands, Draecember 2017, Exploring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 10:03:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12932934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zillidan/pseuds/Zillidan
Summary: After a successful job in an unfamiliar area, Jen finds herself caught in a rainstorm. Her only asylum is a small inn not on any maps she could remember. This small discovery has a profound effect.





	Draecember 2017 Day Five: New Place

“Bye, thanks again!”

Jen absentmindedly extended her hand behind her to the kind lady walking down the steps of the small house she was at. Mercenary work was hardly rewarding, even at the best of times. People always seemed to have problems across Azeroth that needed the helping hand of someone skilled in combat, yet was not willing to pay a lot. Still, she enjoyed going out and seeing the world, helping people, and doing whatever she could. On this particular day, it was a cool late afternoon in unfamiliar territory for Jen. The Arathi Highlands were a particularly beautiful area, especially for a Man’ari that grew up on Mac’aree. The sprawlings foothills reminded her of her homeworld and she enjoyed the winding paths that lead around the small mountains. The job she had was pretty simple. An older lady living on a farm by herself had some of the local Syndicate thugs pestering her for weeks, threatening her harm in exchange for a share of her crops and profit. Jen was easily able to come in and slaughter the simple pickpockets and send the rest of them scattering. She had just reached the main road, looking back and forth to try and find a way to the nearest town. Unfortunately for her, the signposts and be destroyed in a recent skirmish and since it was quite far out, nobody had come to replace it. She felt the wind pick up slightly, looking up as her hair slipped from her shoulders and flutter slightly. The dark clouds along with the wind indicated close storms at hand, rolling in from the sea over the remains of Stromgarde. She sighed as she picked up her pace, deciding to head east down the path, her hooves gently clopping on the ruined cobblestone road that had been walked thousands of times by the same amount of people. She started to pick up her pace slightly as she heard the first booming crack of thunder, not even recalling when the first flash of lightning was. Soon the rain started and down it came. A flooding torrent soaking her to the bone as she put her head down and hood up and her now soaked cloak, providing no protection at all. She shivered as she hurried along, hoping for ANY sign of shelter. She glanced up and saw a glow of light in the distance, like a sign of the light in the darkness, and quickly hurried towards it. Closing in, she noticed that it was an inn of some kind, having no clue that it even existed. Quickly she moved up the steps and almost crashed in through the door to get inside.

It was not that big of an inn and in fact, was quite empty itself. There were two long tables, a bar at one end, and a fireplace on the one side of the room. As far as she could tell in the squinting light it was only one large room, with maybe a smaller one in the back. She delicately wiped her hooves off as she walked into the place, dripping wet as she looked around, her weight creaking the floorboards of the old building. Suddenly she heard a small crash and sprinting as someone came out of the back room.

“H-Hi? The sign says we are closed!”

She looked over at the person who came out of the back room. She couldn’t have been older than fifteen or sixteen, covered head to toe in soot over her simple clothing. Clearly, she had been in the back cleaning and did not hear anyone come in.

“Oh, well my mistake. I just saw this place and it was raining so.”  
She turned around to leave before the girl squeaked out.

“Oh my, you are a Draenei!”

She stopped, looking down at her tail, swishing it a bit before smirking, taking off her hood.

“Y-yeah, I guess you could say that.” She nervously smiled, her sickly green eyes blinking as she turned back to face the younger girl.

“Oh, I have heard stories about you from my Mama and Papa, great warriors of the light, nice to anyone and gigantic, bigger than any Human ever! My parents are at home and I was just here finishing my chores. You can stay until the rain stops I guess, but you can't tell anyone. If my parents find out, the will make me shovel the pig pens for weeks.”

Jen laughed as she removed her wet cloak and set it on a chair near the fire. She moved to sit at the bar where she could stretch out and looked the girl up and down.

“So, what do you do here?”

The two of them then went on and talked for what seemed like hours. Jen almost felt bad, the girl was not going to get her chores done anytime soon as she described the hard life she lived, working on the farm all day, maintaining the inn every night. Secretly, she would go off and learn about spells from books mags left behind, she had a small sword form a warrior that left it behind as well she practiced with. Every time a Paladin came in she was in awe of them and wanted to become one. They spent hours talking about the Vindicators, while Jen hid who she was from the girl. It was when she herself started yawning that she rose up from her seat.

“Well, the rain is long gone and I should be heading on my way.”

The girl frowned but nodded, reaching out and quickly hugging her before she had time to react. She awkwardly reached down and patted the small girl essentially hugging her legs as she beamed a smile at her.

“Wow, I can’t believe I met a real Draenei today, this was so cool. I don't know how I'll be able to keep it from my parents. When I get a bit older and finally get out of this place, I want to be like you.”

She felt a twinge in her stomach as those words hit her, nodding and nervously smiling as she gathered her cloak.

“Forge your own path, don’t emulate everything I am, be you”

She smiled as she walked out the door into the cool night, continuing along through the cold night, though a small warmth in her heart made the journey a little bit more bearable.


End file.
